It's Better, But...

 

"Birds know themselves not to be the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much."

~Gregory Maguire

Out Of Oz

 

It's Better, But...

 

I had to pick up a prescription the other day, and because I am a very lucky woman, Alan offered to get it for me, while I waited in the car. Fortunately, I  had my camera with me, which meant I got to play with a group of Cedar Waxwings floating just above my head. Cedar Waxwings travel in communities. This particular community had about 12 or so, which means there was a pretty good chance I would be hit by a bird bomb, or at least one of those juicy berries the birds were getting drunk on. That is the blessing and curse of owning a car with a sunroof, but I happily chanced it, and to my delight, they didn't hit me, or the interior of Bridget, once. The outside got some poop, but the only thing that made it's way inside the car was the berries that fell off the branch as they ate. I had the same trouble getting the wingtips and tails, but look how pretty they look in the sunshine! The photos are better than the last time I tried to photograph them, but practice will make perfect.

It's Better, But...

 

Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve?

 

 

No cold, Flu or Covid-19 so far. Yep, you read that right, our most recent Covid-19 home test is negative, so could 2022 be the year that breaks the spell? Will this be, the first time since moving to the San Joaquin Valley, that Alan and I aren't sick on Christmas? To be clear, we have both been sick on Christmas in other years, but not with the consistency we have experienced since moving here. We have been sick, EVERY... SINGLE... YEAR since 2015! Life is an adventure, but last year was a little more than an adventure, and I would rather not repeat it. Sometimes it feels like Covid-19 is just waiting in the wings, like with the original Omicron, which was basically unavoidable. Shrug. The numbers are climbing here again. They are climbing everywhere, because folks are dumb as dirt, and don't take it seriously. Sigh. If you look at the stats, things are definitely better than last year, but, there is even more room to improve, and the problem is, I can do my part, but if the guy at the store next to me isn't, I am sunk. I guess that is pretty much true about most situations in life. 

Sigh. I guess the best we can hope for at this point it is,

 

 IT'S BETTER, BUT... .

 

 ~Me

Green-winged Teal

 

"Birds were created to record everything. They were not designed just to be beautiful jewels in the sky, but to serve as the eyes of heaven."

 

~Suzy Kassem

Rise Up and Salute The Sun: The Writings Of Suzy Kassem

 

Click To Enlarge
 

I was delighted to see a fairly large paddling of ducks at the Cosumnes River, the other day, and not just any duck, it was the small, yet mighty, Green-winged Teal. I had seen some in the waters off Desmond road, but at the Cosumnes River visitor's Center, I was able to walk right up to the waters edge. The Teal were being quite accommodating, in fact they were perfect little models! I wish all birds were that easy to photograph. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the Bullock's Oriole are probably the most difficult for me to photograph, both are even more difficult than the Cedar Waxwings, which have given me more than one headache while trying to get a photo. With the waxwings, it's the difficulty of getting a photo of the bird with it's wing and tail tips featured. It is universally believed that waxwings hide those special markings on purpose.LOL. They don't, of course, but it does seem at times that birds have a plot to make the photographer work as hard as possible to archive a photo good enough to enter the Audubon photo contest. I am not sure if I have ever gotten a photo good enough to win, but I might try to enter the contest next year anyway, just for the experience of it. Shrug. We'll see. Right now, I am just focused on Christmas, and New Year's, although, birds are always a welcome distraction.

 

 

 Tomorrow... the Cedar Waxwings

~Me

 

The Last Of The Leaves...

 

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

 

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

It's the longest and saddest day of the year. Autumn is gone again, and with it goes my heart, head, and pure existence. Winter is here, barely. It's warm and sunny, which has never been my favorite conditions for winter, as I like to celebrate dark days, with calm dark feelings of contentment. I love winter, but not when it delivers spring way before it's time, and that's exactly what the heat of an autumn day does. I haven't posted much lately, not even my leaf portraits, because sometimes life gets busy and sometimes a little sad, but that's life I guess. So sorry to be cryptic, but I know what I mean, my thoughts make sense to me, and that's who this blog is for, me. If you wanna know, just ask, and we will talk.

 

Anyway...

 

Getting caught up on my lovely leaves and birds, so off we go. Nothing sad here, just beauty in the world.

 

The last of the leaves...

 

#78

#79

#80

#81

#82

#83

#84

#86

#87

 #88

#89

#90

#91

Tomorrow, it's all about the birds, and what both my bird and leaf projects will look like next year! I can't wait!

~Me

Wait! It's The 7th? And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #76 and #77

 

"The wind was as ripe as apples,

 so full of fall that you could almost bit every breath."

 

~Robert Newton Peck

Soup

 

 Well, it seems I have missed a few postings, or at one posting. You see, I have been out enjoying the last few days, with a great sense of love for my favorite season. The Sandill cranes, and all the birds really, seem to be falling in numbers. The usual places don't have nearly the number of birds I would expect this time of year, but then it hasn't been as cold, nor has their been as much rain, and really, almost everything is lacking in normality. There is an avian flu amongst the bird populations, and unfortunately I think the powers that be are attempting to lessen the spread by humans, so they are taking the necessary steps to prevent us from spreading the germs on our feet. The Monterey Bay avian exhibit is temporarily closed for that very reason. And, as a result, my bird friends aren't showing up in the numbers I had hoped, and are moving on at a faster pace. But, I found a few cranes to play with, and they always seem to pose for me, or they are at least patient while I take their photos, so I was able to enjoy that.

 

Tonight there is a full moon. But not just any full moon, the last full moon of 2022. I like the December moon very much, and tonight this full moon brings along a friend! Mars will be seen in the form of a lunar osculation as Mars meets the moon, then disappears behind it, then eventually returns on the other side. It sounds pretty cool. I don't know if I will be able to watch all of it, the cold and my arthritis don't happily hold hands in the cold months. Shrug. But speaking of cold months, not only does the full moon tonight carry the name of Cold Moon, it has many other names as well! I am not sure which one I like the most, but I think I traditionally, when I posted about the full moon, I went with the Full Snow Moon. It's a pretty name, don't you think so? Oh well. Yes. We will go with that name. If I get any good shots tonight I will come back and update this post below.

 

1. Full Cold Moon - Mohawk 

2. Full Snow Moon - Haida and Cherokee

3. Winter Maker Moon - Western Abenaki 

 

It's the holiday season, so things are busy, and there is the added attraction of waiting on ordered packages. One has to be right on top of things, or the packages are stolen right off the porch!

 

I can't wait to see more!

 

~Me

 

Frost At Night And Warm Sunny Days and #75

 

"It was the best time of year. Frost at night and warm, sunny days, when yellows and oranges of the aspens and cottonwoods did something to the blue of the sky behind them that an artist might never mimic."

 

~Peter Heller

Celine

 

This, is a Dark-eyed Junco. He's a difficult little bird to photograph. He is small, and fast, and mostly gets his meals from the ground, and that means he hides under bushes and piles of leaves. Fortunately for me, they are in great numbers so finding them isn't really difficult, and while it seems like I am complaining, I am not. I enjoy the process of photographing birds, no two are the same, and sometimes it comes with elements I wish didn't exist. Like finding the perfect shot, which includes ... gulp... them chowing down on another bird. Such as a Kestrel eating a Sparrow. The Dark-eyed Junco is absolutely worth the effort it takes to photograph them, now if only they would stand still so I could get a really good photo! This is my second attempt this year, and while it's not as good as I would have liked, I think I will quit while I am ahead, and on a high note!

~Me

 

 

Beautiful But Sad Poetry And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #74

 

"Autumn is a beautiful but sad poem that

 dying leaves recite with great enthusiasm

 so that the world will remember them

 as they bid farewell to the world!"

 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

 I saw so much this week. The beautiful. The scary. The Rain. The Sun. The sad. The amazing. For seven days, it carried a lot for eyes to see. The autumn is coming to a close, but the leaves show no signs of giving up, and as long as they can be found, I will be there. There is snow in the mountains right now, and I expect in Yosemite as well, so I cannot help but think about what opportunities lie beyond photographing the last of the leaves and the birds. The leaves will probably fade away fairly soon after my last Autumn Leaf Of The Day posting on December 21st. The birds don't really start to wane until sometime in the spring. About the only time I don't have something of interest overlapping is spring into summer. Mostly I just experience depression in summertime, but maybe this next summer will have something for me, if I start my search now. Maybe I will just focus on July and August, and take it slow. I have to find something to lift my spirits. I know there is something out there, I just haven't discovered it yet. So coming the research into the possibilities.

 

 

~Me

Sad Soggy Cereal And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #73

 

"Leaves covered the pavement like soggy cereal."

 

~Patricia Cornwall

The Body Farm

 

I love that quote, and I love the title of the book it came from. It's all very definitely autumn inspired and inspiring. It was raining today, and it's going to raining for several days. I absolutely love it! It's fantastic for California, it's great for my bird friends and it's wonderful for my nerves. What isn't so wonderful... someone stole some packages off my porch yesterday, and the day hadn't been the best day to begin with. So, shit! That's the thing about this condo. When we just go inside, lock the door and ignore the world, we are fine, but things like having your packages stolen off your porch, every year around Christmas, gets a little sad, and scary, and downright infuriating. Who needs it? I was hoping that after what happened last year, again packages lifted, which contained the complete series dvds of, The Munsters and Hogans Heroes, you would have thought I would have learned. Oh well, I guess I was really hoping it was a one off, I guess I know now, what it actually is... life on my street! But I won't always be living here. Nothing good, or bad, lasts forever!

Autumn always has made me smarter.

 

~Me

Nature's Last Party

 

Autumn Suppers

 

Autumn is Nature's last party of the year. And dressing for the occasion, forests don their brightest attire, while the creatures follow suit with plush coasts of fur, As the birds savor their final flights in the waning embers of light, Natures children scamper about in search of manna for their winter pantries, pausing long enough to frolic in the heaps of newly fallen leaves.

 

Orange Coast Magazine

Oct, 1983

 

~Me

 

 

UP, UP, And Away... And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #71

 

"A soul that smiles in empathy is a soul that blew away the sadness as the wild wilds blew. A soul that parts its lips is a soul that smiled away the sadness, as the autumn leaves flew... ."

~Jayita Bhattacharjee

There is no real sadness in autumn, especially when by conservative accounts, about 8 thousand birds of all kinds have just flown over your head. There were probably more snow geese than any other kind of bird, but there were great numbers of Northern Pintail and Greater White-fronted geese as well!

It's a wonderful feeling to see, and hear, the phenomenon of a great number of migratory birds all flying off at once! I've mentioned this before and I will be mentioning this again, so bear with me. I see it, and by the next day I have to question my own memory as to whether or not it was as glorious as I remember it to be!

And to my delight, I know it was!

 

~Me

An Autumn Place And Autumn Leaf Of The Day #70

 

"The music of falling leave, the autumnal story to tell, 

as I drink in its nostalgic smell. The flash of red, the flash of gold. 

 Yesterday is past, yet, the tale did not grow old."

 

~Jayita Bhattacharjee

 

I had a favorite tree in the East Bay. It was in a park I used to visit when I could, which in autumn seemed to be at least once a week. I would take my lunch there and just breathe in the sights and sound of autumn. I love that Halloween happens right in the middle of all this beauty. There are so many memories surrounding that old tree. It makes me terribly sad that I can no longer visit it on a whim, but this tree in Stockton is definitely easing that pain. The leaves are completely different, and in truth, I feel a lot less safe in this park, but look at that light! October never passes away as long as I have that color and that light, and my heart holds on with such appreciation.  I love this tree, we are friends. It felt my pain last year, and it held out it's hand and said to me... come here, sit beside me, and let it all out. My branches are strong enough to hold you. Everyone should have a place like this to go to. I have two!

 

 

~Me

Fly Dry... A Public Service Message And #69

 

"November at it's best ... 

with a sort of delightful menace in the air."

 

~Anne Bosworth Greene

 

Meet the Cedar Waxwing. I think I have probably shared this beautiful bird before, you might even have noticed them flying about in your own yard, but I bet you didn't know that, as they fly about sort of  manic and sometimes engaging in an odd kind of darting back and forth, what might happening is ... well ... they might actually be drunk! You see, some of the fruit waxwings love so much, like these berries, tend to ferment, which can lead to a drunk bird, or birds, flying about the neighborhood, singing off key, chirping strange bird words, and pooping any doggone place they want, with NO REGARD for anyone.

 

 At all.

 

There, I said my peace. And no, I didn't get hit by any drunk waxwing poopiness, but that's a weird enough fact about these wonderful birds to properly amuse me. Another fun fact is that somehow they just know when you are doing a photo of them. How do I know this? Because every time I try to get a photo of them, they tuck their wingtips, and tail tips, between branches so you can't see the color in the photographs. They have other distinctive markings, so I can always tell when it's them, but I sure would like to show off the whole bird because the wing and tail tips are quite lovely. Quite unique. Sigh. I love them anyway, and I miss them, so much, when they continue on their migratory path. These birds are fascinating, go read about them!

Cedar Waxwing

Drunk Birds In Texas

 

~Me